Mountain Superstitions
by Kado-Kattsune
Summary: Things once thought mythical awaken in the woods. Contains: accidental werewolves, witches behind on the learning curve, ghost cats, and knife fights. [Modern Magic AU]


The morning fog had lifted with the sunrise, leaving the grass and trail gravel damp. The leaves of the surrounding forest trees were just beginning to turn, spattering the bright colors of autumn across the deep greens of summer and the scattered pines. The sun had just begun peaking over the tall treeline, leaving the air tolerably cool, the chill easily chased away with a jacket.

Ren yawned, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her red canvas work-jacket and wishing she had taken the time to find a pair of gloves. The hat she had managed to pull free of the coatrack was an old knit thing, the corners lying in a way reminiscent of cat ears. It made her look ridiculous but she had avoided the unnecessarily bright pink scarf Aileen had thrown at her head on her way out the door and Ren would have to count that as a small victory.

The only thing she felt was lacking from the picturesque autumn morning was the fact that her uncle hadn't chosen to grow a few apple trees on the property. There was something invigorating about the smell of apples and fallen leaves on a cool morning.

The mechanic pulled a hand from her pocket, reaching up to press the 'talk' button on the bright yellow walkie-talkie clipped to her jacket near the collar. "Apple fritters."

There was a short burst of static before her cousin's voice replied _"You did not find apple fritters in the barn. And if you did, they sure as hell weren't making all that noise last night."_

Ren fought the urge to roll her eyes. "No, stupid. I want apple fritters for breakfast after this."

 _"We're having pancakes."_

"Whatever," Ren clicked her tongue in annoyance, but arguing did her little good so far from the house when Aileen had control of the kitchen. "Now, maybe things have changed from my day but isn't it a bit early for the high school and college kids to do the Halloween parties in the woods? It's not even October yet."

Aileen's snort could be heard through the static of the walkie-talkie. _"You're not even that old, Ren. But something got the dogs riled up last night. If it wasn't drunk people breaking into the storage barn to crash then I don't know what it was."_

The old horse barn-turned-storage sat near the edge of the property, the treeline and underbrush slowly encroaching on the structure since the horses were moved some two decades back. As such it made the storage barn the perfect target for teenagers and the fresh-to-college types that continued the local tradition of spending weekends in October drinking in the woods and went looking for a place to crash. Thankfully they were easy enough to scare off and didn't usually leave much behind; beer bottles, the odd pair of pants that usually ended up burned, occasionally a stray wallet that Ren and Aileen would remove of cash and coupons before sending it back to its owner.

The thought of an easy cleanup came to a quick halt as the barn came into view, the mechanic following suit to curse loudly. The door had nearly been ripped from the rails, leaning at an angle so awkward that Ren worried it would fall on top of her when she tried to walk through it. The paint, which had been naturally peeling, seemed to have been shredded from the wood in long strips with enough force that gouging was visible even from this distance.

"Son of a bitch," the brunette hissed. "Who's ever in there better pray I don't beat the shit out of 'em before we call the sheriff. Should make them fix the door themselves."

Sufficiently irritated and no longer sleepy Ren cracked her knuckles, stalking towards the broken barn door. Though the barn door hung awkwardly and would likely fall free of its rails later in the day there was enough room for the woman to fit through without much of a squeeze. It was a small relief in the grand scheme of ruined property. Sunlight filtered easily through the doorway but only provided enough light to see for a few feet, the back of the storage barn still lost to shadow.

Hands on her hips, Ren frowned into the shadows. "You don't get to just break things and leave."

One hand shot out, smacking the wall where she knew the lightswitch was. It clicked but all she got for the effort was stinging fingers, the barn remaining dark.

"Just fucking peachy." Ren crouched by the door, squinting at the shelving. The sunlight would have helped if this particular shelf wasn't flush with the barn wall, leaving everything farther down the shelf only vague shapes and dark blobs. The shape of the spare flashlight was easy enough to recognize and a quick click of the button proved that it was still in working order.

There were few places hungover idiots could hide even in a space as large as an old horse barn; the ladder to the hayloft had been removed with most of the hay. The exception being in the far back corner of the storage barn itself which held a neat stack of hay bales to be used for various October festivities. Blessedly no one seemed to have touched the old tractor. The smell of hay was overwhelming enough to make her nose itch and Ren knew before the telltale crunch under her boots that the hay was no longer in neat bales.

"God d-" the mechanic paused, frozen mid-step, as she tilted her head and squinted. There was another smell, easily lost under the grassy scent. Ren lowered the flashlight, the beam illuminating pawprints in the dust and dots of red, splattered at intervals.

Blood.

Ren sighed, reaching up to press the button on the walkie-talkie. "Some dumbass got themselves injured."

 _"Like we need an ambulance injured or they have to use the first aid kit in the bathroom injured?"_

Ren surveyed the blood drops on the floor in the light of the flashlight, considering as she walked. "First aid kit. Probably some bad scratches from the old wire on the fence. Hopefully they don't get tetanus."

Aileen's laughter carried over the static, _"Good luck. Hungover and injured people are cranky."_

"Yeah, no k- Hold up," Ren stopped short, the beam of the flashlight finally finding the mound of loose hay.

What the flashlight had illuminated was a foot, dirty and scratched and thankfully still attached to a person. The person- man, it was definitely a man- was half buried in the newly made pile of hay, one arm thrown over his face. He was a dirty and scratched as his feet and in what little light the flashlight provided it seemed like the unconscious man had signs of older injuries. Ren had half a mind to believe that this poor asshole, whoever he was, had been wandering the woods for days.

 _"What's wrong?"_ Aileen's voice snapped Ren from her thoughts. _"Ren?"_

"Uh," the brunette replied, the words tumbling from her mouth before she had a chance to think about them. "What am I supposed to do about a naked man in a hay pile?"

Aileen was silent long enough for Ren to begin to feel awkward standing at the end of what used to be hay bales, with a flashlight in hand, roughly two feet from an oh-god-please-just-be-sleeping man. _"What do you mean what do you do? Do you not know what to do with a naked man?"_

"Listen-" Ren cut herself short, jaw snapping shut on her argument with an audible click of her teeth. Something had growled from one of the old horse stalls behind her and the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. Ren swallowed, turning slowly in hopes of not startling whatever was in the darkness behind her. It didn't work; something large sprinted from the empty stall with enough speed to spike the woman's heart rate.

"Fuck!" The mechanic cursed, half-yelping in surprise and swinging the heavy flashlight like a baseball bat. It hit with an uncomfortable sounding thonk noise and whatever had lunged at her hit the floor and didn't move.

Ren froze, arms still lifted post-swing, as she waited for her heart to stop pounding in her ears and silently prayed that nothing else would jump out at her. Nothing happened, the barn remained still and quiet, save for the sounds of Aileen over the walkie-talkie.

 _"- and you can't just cut off like that after saying someone is in there with you!"_

Ren sighed, lowering her arms and adjusting her hold on the flashlight. She turned around fully, pointing the light at the lump on the barn floor. It was another person. Smaller, lanky, a teenager. Carefully she stepped forward, nudging the teenager with the toe of her boot to turn him over.

Dark hair that might have been in a decent style months ago, stray leaves, the start of a bruise on the side of his face, and enough dirt that it was impossible to know at a glance if his shirt used to be white. The mechanic whistled, the sort of sound made when the day takes a solid right turn into trouble.

Capitol 'T' trouble.

 _"If you don't say something-"_

"Lee," Ren interrupted. No amount of coffee and pancakes was going to fix this morning. "Do you remember a few months back, those campers that went missing in the woods?"

" _Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"_

"They're here in the barn and I may have just killed one with the flashlight."


End file.
